Don't You Worry Child

Wildest Dreams

Chapter Summary: Samantha's revenge plot doesn't quite go to plan and Steve can't bear to tell Tony or Pepper.

Soundtrack: Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift

Karolina Dvoracek stood, a red dress with two zippers on it (one on the right side of her waist, the other on her left thigh) covering her statuesque form, a goddess in red. Her quizzical brows furrowed momentarily as she smiled, her teeth white like snow, lips painted a pillbox red, her long, tanned legs crossed over "Ah Miss Stark, I've been wondering when we would meet," she said in her Czech accent.

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Samantha wasn't quite sure how she'd found herself fighting Karolina Dvoracek but it was happening and Samantha appeared to be losing. No matter what move she made, be it for the eyes, the remainder of Karolina's face, trying to splice her open with her knife, the tall, blonde Czech just came back stronger than before, and faster too. Samantha was pushed up against a wall now, desperately trying to dodge the knife that Karolina had managed to steal from her.

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Tony saw the young, ombre-haired woman being wheeled past his hospital room and, for some inexplicable reason, his heart felt as though it had leapt up into his throat, a sinking feeling starting to settle in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't explain why but he worried for his eldest daughter. That worry only got worse when he saw someone he could have sworn to be Steve Rogers running down the hallway, chasing after the girl who lay bleeding on the gurney.

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Karolina Dvoracek had left the room; that was how Steve knew things hadn't gone to plan. He'd run in the moment Dvoracek had left, had gotten a barman to run after her, all he saw was the blood, the scarlet red liquid leaking out of her ide, the knife still in there. He'd called for an ambulance, not removing the protruding knife, knowing that it could potentially kill her if he did. He'd lied, telling the paramedics that he was Samantha's husband so he could hold her hand the whole way to the hospital.

Now, the doctors had forced him away from her so that they could fix her. He knew that eventually he'd have to tell Tony what had happened; he knew he'd have to call it in to S.H.I.E.L.D; he knew he'd have to make a statement to the police. He knew all of the things he would have to do and yet he didn't seem at all capable of doing them. Samantha Stark had him under her spell and he was worried that he'd lose her forever.

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Karolina Dvoracek watched as Steve Rogers paced the halls of the hospital as though he were her prey. In a sense, he was. If she couldn't kill Samantha or her father, maybe the super-soldier was the answer. It would be a stake to the heart for the ombre-haired agent if her precious Captain America were to die. But he had the ability to heal quickly, too quickly for any real damage to be dealt. In the previous four years, Steve Rogers had evaded death's clutches more times than Karolina had fingers, maybe he wasn't the way to go after all.

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